


What Comes, What Goes, What Stays

by silver_fish



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cats, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Marriage Proposal, Moving In Together, Pet Adoption, kinda at least - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-20 12:01:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12432399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_fish/pseuds/silver_fish
Summary: Lance knows that life comes at you fast.That's why he's glad to have Allura by his side, helping him it through it all.





	What Comes, What Goes, What Stays

**Author's Note:**

> i've never written vld fic before, so please go easy on me if anybody seems out of character aha. i'm sure i'll improve!!
> 
> anyway, i really wanted to write something for these two. i've been in love with allurance since it was considered a very weird rarepair, and i'm so happy to see more people coming to love it, too! i had this idea quite a while ago, back when s3 aired and allura piloted the blue lion. i wish i could've made this longer, but i'm only just beginning to grow comfortable with writing these characters, so it's pretty short orz. hopefully, my next project for vld will be longer! on that note, though, i hope you enjoy! xx

When Lance was seven, his siblings found a stray cat and took it in. They decided to name her Mittens, and she became a very important member of the McClain family.

Lance remembers fondly the first time each of his friends met Mittens. Hunk always joked that he would take her home with him, even as Lance’s little siblings roared in disapproval, but Keith would always say he didn’t like her, because she didn’t like _him_ (she loved him, and still does; Shiro insists that it’s because Keith is a bit like a kitten himself. Lance can’t say that he exactly sees what Shiro means, but it isn’t a point he really wants to argue). Pidge, on the other hand, has always said that Mittens is an abnormal cat, because she enjoys baths, and has made no other indication of liking or disliking her. However, Lance can recall a moment when he was fifteen, going on sixteen, and Pidge was merely thirteen, that they fell asleep on Lance’s couch, and Mittens curled up on their chest. In fact, he has a picture of it, saved away for a day when he can use it to his advantage.

But the most memorable meeting is Mittens’s first meeting with Allura.

Allura, one year Lance’s senior, was Shiro’s best friend. They met through Keith, ultimately, and Lance wants to say that they really hit it off, but this is very much not the case. Rather, he told her that her accent was sexy, and she slapped him in the face.

Since then, they have been quite close, he always says.

But Mittens is the one that drove Allura to really care for Lance, she often informs him.

They met when Lance was seventeen, and Allura was eighteen. Lance’s mother mistook them for a couple, and invited Allura to dinner. Allura, too polite to decline, managed to sit through the entire meal without even realizing that Lance’s family thought them to be a couple, despite all the odd, prying questions about her life.

That evening, Lance introduced Allura to Mittens, and Allura told him that she had never imagined him as a cat person.

He said, “I’m not, but Mittens isn’t a cat. She’s family.”

Allura laughed, then. “I suppose you're right. My mistake.”

It has been three years since then, and things have changed quite significantly.

As Allura studiously works through her university courses, Lance prepares to ask the question that he admittedly has been dreading for months and months.

But she finishes her final exams with flying colours, and Lance knows that she has worked hard for this; therefore, it is only appropriate that he works hard for what he wants, too.

On the first weekend of May, though, when Lance still hasn’t asked, Keith winds up spilling the beans for him.

They are all at Shiro’s apartment, sat around a mostly-empty pizza box. Shiro has stepped out of the room to take a phone call, and Keith, unoccupied with Shiro so far away from him, turns to Lance and asks, “So, when are you and Allura moving in together, again?”

Lance chokes on his slice of pizza.

Consolingly, Hunk pats his back.

“We aren’t,” Lance says weakly. “Y-yet, anyway. I—”

But Allura simply laughs that beautiful, harmonic laugh that Lance fell in love with something like three years ago and says, “I’d love to move in with you, Lance.”

And, dammit, she’s so _bright_ , like the future doesn’t scare her at all, and Lance swears that every time she smiles, he feels himself fall a little more in love with her than she already was.

Keith frowns. “I thought…”

Pidge snickers. “Well, all’s well that end’s well, I suppose. Congratulations, you two.”

Lance swallows, then grins. “This was all part of my plan, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Pidge agrees. They roll their eyes. “God save Allura. I couldn’t imagine living with someone like you.”

“I already know Lance owns thirty-two ugly Christmas sweaters,” Allura says seriously. “I doubt there’s anything worse than that.”

“Those sweaters are amazing,” Lance protests. “My mother made twenty of them with her own two hands!”

“Lance talks in his sleep, too, doesn’t he?” Pidge muses.

“Can confirm,” Hunk says. “One time, he told me he was going to eat the leftover chicken in my fridge.”

“Hunk, I was _not_ asleep when I told you that.”

“...Seriously?”

“So, wait,” Keith says. “You hadn’t actually asked Allura to move in with you? What happened to ‘after her exams’?”

A nervous bubble of laughter wells up in Lance’s throat. “Well…”

“He’s a big chicken,” Pidge mocks. “No-balls Lance.”

“That’s not—!”

The other four all laugh at him as he struggles to find the words to respond.

At this moment, Shiro enters the room again, a quizzical look befalling his face.

“What’s so funny?” he asks, settling down beside Keith again.

“We’re all making fun of Lance,” Pidge supplies.

“So, the usual.”

“So cruel,” Lance complains, but he catches Allura’s eye, and she shoots him a playful smile. He cannot help but return it with one of his own. There’s just something about her, he supposes.

The next weeks become a bit of a blur. As May slips into June, Lance’s mother calls to inform him that Mittens has grown ill. He drops everything to return home, and Allura refuses to let him go alone.

Mittens is quite old, Lance knows. She was presumed to be about three years old when they found her. That was thirteen years ago.

They stay in town until Mittens passes away in her sleep, on the seventh day of June. Lance prays that she went peacefully, and Allura tells him that she’s sure she did.

As embarrassing a story as he’s sure it would be to recount to any of their friends, Lance cries on that day, and Allura merely offers him a supportive hand, a much-needed anchor as he comes to terms with the loss of one of his family members.

It is tragic, yes, but it is life, he comes to understand.

He doesn’t bounce back quickly. He mourns Mittens for quite some time. But he realizes that grief is not a constant ache; rather, it is distraction after distraction, and then the knowledge that he will never hear Mittens meow at the back door over again.

It eases, over time.

On the day that Allura and Lance officially move into their new apartment, they invite all their friends over, and they order Chinese food from a local business.

Pidge, Hunk, and Keith pool some money together to buy them a flat-screen television. Shiro brings them flowers.

Lance tells them that Shiro is _clearly_ the superior gift-giver, and Keith tells him that Shiro bought him a toaster for his last birthday.

“I’m sure you’ve made a lot of toast in the past year, though,” Lance says

“I don’t even eat breakfast,” Keith tells him.

Shiro is appalled by this revelation, and tells Keith off for a solid half-an-hour, but Lance _knows_ that Shiro is even worse at taking care of himself than Keith is, and he cannot help but find the entire situation quite humorous.

They spend the day together, and Lance finds that he has an easy time forgetting about his misery over Mittens’s passing. Still, once their friends leave, he cannot help but feel somewhat guilty about it.

“Let’s watch a movie,” Allura suggests, and Lance is quick to agree.

She lets him pick, even though she detests the chick flick films he always picks, and it winds up not mattering much anyway, because they spend at least eighty percent of the movie cracking stupid jokes and laughing at the cheesy lines the protagonist spews every two minutes.

As the weekend fades away, though, they quickly grow distracted with work, and they both come home exhausted. More often than not, they spend their evenings curled up together on the couch and exchanging horror stories of their respective employers.

Before either of them know it, summer is fading away, and Allura is back in school. Autumn fades to winter, and they return to their hometown to celebrate Christmas Eve with Allura’s family, and then Christmas day with Lance’s.

Lance’s mother has knit them both Christmas sweaters. Allura’s is simply Christmas-themed, with a cheerful snowman depicted on the front, but Lance’s is a little more personal: It portrays Mittens in her prime, chasing around some red and green tinsel.

Perhaps that is the moment he and his family make utter peace with it.

Wherever Mittens may be now, Lance is certain that she is better off than she was in her frail, aging body here.

The new year blossoms around them, and they have a small get-together in their apartment. As midnight strikes the clock, Shiro asks them for their resolutions, and they all somehow manage to come up with something crazy yet completely in-character.

“I want to hack the American government this year,” Pidge declares.

“When you do that, I’d like to get the facts on Area 51,” Keith says.

Pidge nods at him respectively, and then they high-five.

“I want to eat a real meal this year,” Shiro says mournfully.

University life hasn’t been treating him well, Lance surmises.

“I’d like to open up a restaurant,” Hunk tells them proudly.

“I want to learn how to draw,” Allura decides.

They all laugh.

“You say that every year,” Pidge teases. “And you still insist you can’t even draw a circle.”

“In her defence,” Lance speaks up, “circles are very hard to draw.”

“What about you, then, Lancey-Lance? Got any wild resolutions?”

“Duh,” Lance says. “This year, I’m going to love and appreciate my girlfriend even more than usual.”

“He’s basically saying he’ll give you a foot rub any time you ask!” Pidge says. Their eyes twinkle in amusement.

“I said no such thing!”

“I think they’re right,” Allura says. “I’m an overworked student, you know…”

Lance laughs. “Fine, fine. Only for you, baby.”

Pidge gags. The others all laugh at their antics.

January brings a harsh winter, and it is on a day where they wind up snowed in that Allura says, “I think we should get a pet.”

Lance arches an eyebrow at her. “I thought our landlord wouldn’t let us?”

She waves a dismissive hand. “Someone once told me that rules are made to be broken.”

He laughs and plants a chaste kiss on her lips. “You certainly do have a keen memory.”

This is how, two weeks later, they wind up at the local animal shelter, overwhelmed by all their choices.

“I like orange,” Lance says, but Allura shakes her head and holds up the black kitten that one of the volunteers has graciously let her hold.

“Really?” he asks, coming a little closer to inspect the feline.

Its eyes are frigidly blue, and as Lance leans closer to it, it lets out a small, adorable sneeze.

“His name is Blue,” the volunteer supplies. “Someone brought him in as a newborn. Said that they had found his litter and mother, too, but they had all passed already. Blue’s a trooper,” she finishes proudly. “He’s always looking for a new adventure.”

And Lance thinks that that’s the moment both of their hearts are stolen (although, Allura’s may have been quite some time before; perhaps even from the moment she first laid eyes on the kitten).

They adopt Blue, and before they know it, they are suddenly the proud parents of a very bold cat.

Blue likes to hide under things, and Allura and Lance take quite some time to realize that when they get down on the floor to shoo him out from beneath their bed, he thinks it’s more of a game than anything else.

They’re not allowed to have a cat, though, of course, so they be as discreet as possible when it comes to disposing of waste from his litter box, as well as being extra careful every time they leave the apartment.

Their friends stop by to meet Blue, and Pidge jokes that they’re the perfect domestic couple, now, because they even have a child.

They are silent for a moment, and then Allura admits, “You’re right. We really baby him. _Especially_ Lance.”

Lance shrugs. He can’t deny it.

Shiro and Hunk spend their time at Allura and Lance’s apartment on the floor, entertaining Blue with the thousands of toys Lance and Allura have surely bought for him since they brought him home. Pidge and Keith sit on the couch across from Allura and Lance. Pidge drinks a coffee contemplatively, while Keith nurses a glass of water.

“I think you guys have set up a pretty great life for yourselves,” Pidge finally says.

Lance looks at them in surprise. “Really?”

“Yeah. I mean...I might even be a little jealous, if I wasn’t perfectly happy with my own life,” they joke. “Really, though, it’s amazing. I’m impressed you managed it, Lance.”

“I think it was all Allura’s doing,” Keith points out. “She’s so much more organized than Lance is.”

“I wish I could take offence to that, but you’re right,” Lance says mournfully.

“I agree with Pidge, though,” Shiro speaks up. “You should both be proud of yourselves. You’ve done a lot in a pretty short time.”

That’s true, Lance thinks. Their apartment is very nice, and they’re happy here, right alongside Blue.

“Blue is adorable,” Hunk says. “I thinks I should take him—”

“No way!” Lance cries. “You can’t put a—a _monopoly_ on my cat!”

“Our cat,” Allura corrects. “And I don’t believe ‘monopoly’ is the word you’re looking for.”

Lance waves a hand. “You know what I meant. Anyway, Hunk, you can’t _steal_ our cat.”

“Is it really stealing if I tell you I’m going to do it beforehand?”

“Yes!” Allura, Shiro, and Lance cry in unison.

“Debatably,” Pidge says, and Keith nods in agreement with them.

“Majority rule,” Lance says. “Blue is staying here.”

“That’s good,” Shiro says. “I think he fits in with you guys.”

Allura laughs. “What do you mean?”

“He seems a little crazy,” Pidge surmises.

“He’s soft and cuddly,” Hunk disagrees.

“Lance is _not_ soft and cuddly,” Keith protests.

“But Allura is!” Lance says cheekily.

Allura rolls her eyes, but doesn’t dispute it.

“No, I just mean that he’s obviously adjusted here,” Shiro explains. “And you guys love him. I think it’s great that you decided to adopt him.”

There is a moment of silence, where the rest of their friends nod in agreement, and then Keith seems to grow uncomfortable with the quiet, and he sets his glass of water on the table in front of him, looking up to Lance quite seriously.

“So,” he says, “when are you and Allura getting married?”

Lance nearly coughs up a lung in his surprise.

“Excuse me?” he wheezes.

But Allura is laughing, and Keith tilts his head at him in confusion.

“Weren’t you going to ask? You said—”

But then realization hits him, and he stops.

“Right,” he remembers.

“Lance the _chicken_ ,” Pidge jests.

Lance looks to Allura, ready to plead for help, and then falters.

She is looking at him with a large smile on her face, though her cheeks are a little pink, he notices.

She says, “I’d love to marry you, Lance.”

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are always appreciated! xx


End file.
